Terrorism and Patriotism
The connection between war and patriotism-or better yet, between war and the making of patriots-is evident, maybe even self-evident. But, is a war really required?
The answer is no, not as long as we remember past wars, and use those memories to meet current challenges. To help us remember, we have a Memorial Day (Decoration Day when I was young), and the Lincoln, Vietnam, Korean, and (eventually) World War II memorials. To the same end, we have national cemeteries filled with the graves of patriots, and a national anthem composed during a long-past war. This nation was born in a war, and Abraham Lincoln referred to those who fought it as "the patriots of '76." We were "one people" then-we said so. We were made one because King George III and "our British bretheren [were] deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity." What those foes did to rally patriotism in 1776, the terrorists did on Sept. 11.
The signs of this upsurge are everywhere. The grass-roots response of the American people has been phenomenal, a display of bottom-up public patriotism unseen in this nation in at least half a century, slicing across boundaries of race, class, age, and gender. American flags fly from the antennas of battered pickup trucks, from stately Victorian porches, from office windows. An Indiana flag company reports it has never had this many orders, 25 times the norm, in its century-long existence.
The flag is everywhere, and so is the need of the people to display their love of country.
It was only a few years ago that the US Supreme Court ruled that Americans were entitled to burn the flag, that they had a constitutional right to do so. Of course, the ruling did not deny Americans their constitutional right to fly the flag, and millions of people proceeded to do so. Those who did not own a flag rushed out to buy one, in such numbers that supplies were soon exhausted.
Americans are flying the flag again, and they are showing their patriotism in other ways. Told that blood was in short supply, they rushed to give their own; volunteers from around the country raced to the scene of devastation in New York with food, blankets, gas masks, whatever they thought was needed. Americans grieved for the dead there, in Washington, and in Pennsylvania as their own, and prayed for the bereaved left behind.
Stripes and stars forever, right? Well, what exactly does that mean? The American Flag can be seen almost anywhere. From the high-school, to the ball park, and even in our homes, the American flag stands as a symbol of all that is good and true in America. When one thinks of the flag, they usually think of the blood that was shed for this country. It was shed so that we could have liberties, such as, freedom of speech and expression, which fall under the first amendment rights of the Constitution. However, when you think of a burning flag, what comes to mind? One might say it shows disrespect and hatred to a country that has given so much. In the case of Texas v. Johnson, Gregory Lee Johnson was accused of desecrating a sacred object, but, his actions were protected by the First Amendment. Although his actions may have been offensive, he did not utter fighting words. By burning the flag, Johnson did not infringe upon another's natural human rights. He was simply expressing his outrage towards the government, which is within the jurisdiction of the First Amendment.
Every country has icons that specify objects that represent beliefs, values, or tradition that make that country unique. As the United States of America has many such as, Statue of Liberty and the American Flag. Yasmin Sabina Khan shows in her book "Enlightening the World: The Creation of the Statue of Liberty” why the Statue of Liberty was built, how each part of the statue describes everything and how it represents U.S today. In “Capture The Flag: The Stars And Stripes In American History”, Scot M Guenter talks about how the American flag is seen everywhere and how the flag has remained strong throughout many incidents. In the Barbara Kingsolver essay “And Our Flag Was Still There”, she writes about the meaning of the American flag and how it represents our country in different ways. And at last, Dave Barry shows us in his “Red, White and Beer”, the strong effects that patriotism can have on the sales and advertising of products. All of these icons
The United States Government should deem desecration of the American Flag unconstitutional because of the freedom in which the flag represents, along with the blood, sweat, and tears that were shed by our brave soldiers and veterans. Desecration of the American Flag suggests a disdain, or a disregard for the symbolic meaning under which it represents. The American Flag has forever and a day been an image declaring freedom and democracy, and has showcased our principles and beliefs as a country.
Simon Keller argues in his essay "Patriotism as Bad Faith" that patriotism is not a virtue but it is actually a vice. Keller begins by splitting the views on this philosophical debate into three different representations. The first being the "communitarian patriot", where patriotism is not only a valued virtue to someone's self but that it is actually an essential virtue. The second representation is a radical contradiction of the first, known as the "hard universalist. The hard Universalist sees patriotism as a vice instead of being any type of positive virtue. They think that everyone should be valued the same, and that there should be no favoritism. The third representation is the idea of the first two combined, to form what is called the "soft universalist." This view is understood as patriotism is allowed, and is not seen as a vice, but also that one has an obligation to the rest of the world, almost to try and treat them as a loyalty that you would have towards your own country. (p.112).
The “Poems of American Patriotism”. Project Gutenberg. Aug. 2004. Web. The Web.
The dissenting opinion to the previous idea is that the government's legitimate interest in preserving the symbolic value of the flag is, however, essentially the same that may have motivated a particular act of flag burning. The flag uniquely symbolizes the ideas of liberty, equality, and tolerance -- ideas that Americans have passionately defended and debated throughout our history. The flag embodies the spirit of our national commitment to those ideals. To the world, the flag is our promise that we will continue to strive for these ideals. To us, the flag is a reminder both that the struggle for li...
There is much controversy surrounding the idea of patriotism and the iconography of the American flag in today’s society. Some believe patriotism is simply the act of supporting the decisions of the leaders of the country. Others say, to be patriotic, people should be outspoken and voice their oppositions to what is going on in the government. Opinions also differ on the idea of what the American flag represents. One opinion of the flags representation is that the flag represents our history, and the formerly mentioned idea of patriotism. Others believe the flag also represents our history as a nation, but these beliefs focus much more heavily on the negative aspects of our history; such as slavery and other injustices carried out by our nation. These people often believe we should find a new iconography for our country’s ideas of patriotism. As Barbara Kingsolver states in “And Our Flag Was Still There,” “Patriotism seems to be falling to whoever claims it loudest, and we’re left struggling to find a definition in a clamor of reaction” (Pg. 1). Therefore, every American’s duty is to define patriotism amongst the clamor of reaction, recapture the American flag’s representation, and create a new icon for the flag.
Flag defilement is seen in many forms, such as- spitting on, tearing apart, or burning. During the 1960’s, a time of despair and revolution, flag vandalism proliferated. In effort to alter their lifestyle, Americans stampeded the streets ruining the symbol of freedom in the name of politics and racism. The violent array of insubordination created an immediate reaction. Each protest became more violent and ill mannered. Each time someone demolishes a flag, the act is not freedom of speech- it is an expression of an anti-American lifestyle.
George W. Bush was the forty-third president of the United States, born to America’s forty-first president George Bush and raised in New Haven, Connecticut then moved to Midland, Texas where he spent his early years. He has five siblings, including his sister Pauline who died from leukemia at the age of four. After graduation from Philips Academy in Massachusetts, he attended Yale University, were he earned a bachelor’s degree in history. Upon completing school, he joined the Air National Guard, until being discharged in November 1974. After discharge, George W. Bush then attended graduate school, completing a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard University. Two years later, he met his wife Laura and married in 1977 in Midland, Texas. Although the Bush family has a history within politics, George W. Bush worked in the oil industry and established a company called Arbusto Energy in 1977.
Nationalism is extreme loyalty and devotion to one particular nation, and many Americans are nationalistic about their country. But even though they are loyal to America, defining what it means to be a true American is tricky. Being American is one complex thing, but the concept of being American can not be fully grasped. What it means to be American may in fact be one of the biggest mysteries of all time. Indeed, discovering what it means to be a true American could possibly take an entire lifetime. One thing, however about all true Americans is certain: we are all alike in that each one of us is different from the Americans in important ways. We are diverse in our backgrounds, races, and religions. Nevertheless, we are exactly identical in the we feel toward our country, even though we express our pride in a million different ways.
George W. Bush was born in New Haven, CT, on July 6th 1946, the first child of George H W Bush. He was raised in Midland and Houston, Texas, with four siblings. There should have been five but his sister, Robin died from leukemia when she was three in 1953. George Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a U.S. Senator from Connecticut. George W. Bush's Dad, George H. W. Bush, was Vice President from 1981 to 1989 and President from 1989 to 1993. He was a big influence on his son George W. Bush’s life. George Bush attended public schools in Midland, Texas until the family moved to Houston after he finished seventh grade at a Midland Middle School. He then went to The Kinkaid School a Houston prep school for two years. George ended up finishing high school at Phillips Academy an all-male boarding school in Massachusetts, where he played baseball and his senior year was to my surprise the head cheerleader. Bush attended Yale University from 1964 to 1968, graduating with a Bachelor in history. While at Yale he was a cheerleader and a member of the Frat Delta Kappa Epsilon, and was elected the fraternity's president for his senior year. George Bush also was a member of the Skull and Bones society as a senior at Yale. In the fall of 1973, Bush enrolled in the Harvard Business School, where he earned a Masters degree of Business Administration. He is the only U.S. President to this date to have earned an M.B.A.
Some people see the American flag as patriotism. These people are the ones who have their flags out all year around. The ones who always have them flying high. Some of these people even have American flags hanging off their cars. To some people the American flag is their son or daughter who they have lost either in the line of duty in the military, on the police force, or even the fire department. Although its sad but true some Americans have no patriotism and could care less what happens around them. These people will only care if it affects them in a harmful way.
Flags have been around for centuries and are full of symbolism. From the 13 stripes to the 50 stars our United States flag has always represented freedom. In this symbolism, there is an underlying tone of civil disobedience that has lasted through history and now lives on in the form of another flag.
As this election 2000 is coming, each candidate is working very hard. They are doing debates, electoral campaigns all over the country in order to get more popular votes and therefore get the electoral votes they need to be the next president of the United States. In all of the inquiries that the media did in most of the states, Al Gore seems to be the favorite one, because he knows what he is doing, he has enough experience to rule our country, and he also has very interesting positions in the issues that he proposed to the American people.
The book is divided into two main parts, opportunity and legacy. I was particularly intrigued by the legacy part of the book. In the first part of the book, Gladwell introduces the environmental factors behind the success stories of